Everything Nick Saban Said in his Final Press Conference Ahead of A-Day

Saban spoke on the annual scrimmage game, special teams and more in his final midweek press conference of the spring practice season.

Author:
Joey Blackwell
Publish date:
Apr 14, 2022 6:33 PM EDT

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For the final time ahead of the 2022 A-Day Game, Alabama head football coach Nick Saban spoke to the media on Thursday evening and gave his last thoughts on the progress of the team heading into its final scrimmage of the spring practice season.

Here's everything Saban said in his final midweek press conference of the spring practice season:

Nick Saban Transcript - April 14, 2022

Opening Statement

“So the big focus this week was after the last scrimmage was we made a lot of good plays, but we wanted to eliminate the bad plays. And most of the bad plays come from lack of focus — not focused on technique, not doing things exactly the right way, making mental errors, carrying the ball the right way — fundamentals. Fundamental technique and discipline will eliminate a lot of bad plays whether it’s a depth of a route, a read of a quarterback — whatever it is. A defensive player not having the right eye control looking at the right thing. So the real emphasis in practice these last two days has been getting fundamentally better execution and trying to show the players that if they do this, that’s the best chance that we have to have team success. I think the response has been really pretty good.

“A-Day. The format for A-Day is going to be very similar to what it’s been in the past. The first offense is on one team with the second defense, the first defense is on the other team with the second offense. So the 1s play against the 1s, the 2s against the 2s. I’ve done these A-Day Games, like, 15 different ways and [if] you get mismatches in the game, it can ruin the game. So this is the best way that the good players play against the good players, the most experienced players play against the most experienced players. It’s more challenging for them, it’s better for us in terms of evaluation and I think it’s more game-like, which is really the ultimate goal out of A-Day. Even though the coaching staff [is] split up, we want to get bench organization for the game, we want players to go through what they go through in pregame, what they go through at halftime. So this is kind of an exhibition game-type experience that we want to try to utilize the best we can so it helps our team grow and develop. Obviously we try to simplify things so we’re not really showing anything exotic to our opponents, but it’s also a better way for us to be able to evaluate all the players because hopefully the simplicity helps them know what to do so they can play fast and be physical and have fun.

“One of the things that I think really helped this program get off the ground is the first A-Day Game that we had where we had over 90,000 people. I think that sent a message to the whole nation how committed we all were to having a first-class program, a program that you could be proud of, a program that would attract character, quality people who wanted to be great players so we could have a successful program, so that would be a positive window for how people looked at the University of Alabama because a lot of people look at the university through the athletic programs, and none greater, probably, than football.

“So for us to have a great crowd on Saturday, regardless of what the weather is, to support the players, to support the team, I think this sends a huge message of what our passion and our desire to and support that we have for having a great program. I know it’s a holiday weekend. Sorry that the calendar worked out this way, but we certainly love having a great crowd there. The players really, really enjoy it. They love playing for you, and I think it really shows your support for them and the program. So we’d appreciate y’all coming out for A-Day.

“I wanted to mention something that made me so proud last night that Tua [Tagovailoa] has a foundation — he had a luau last night and donates money to Nick’s Kids and Boys & Girls Club of West Alabama and makes me so proud that we had a great player who won a national championship here who’s had to overcome tremendous adversity to be a pro player — is a starter — but has great compassion for people and wants to give back to the community and all the people who supported him here. I think that’s really special for him and his family and certainly made me very, very proud that he wants to do things to help young people so God bless him and God bless his family for that.”

Q: What do you look for at the will linebacker position?

Saban: “I think the most important thing when you’re playing inside linebacker is you’ve gotta be a really instinctive player because you’re not a one-key player. You’re seeing the guard pull, the backfield action. You’re seeing multiple, probably, four or five things. So being able to respond and react to those things quickly and get in the right position relative to the run fit or the pass defense or blitz that we’re playing. So I think being instinctive is really, really important, and you’ve gotta be able to take on blocks, you’ve gotta be a good tackler and you’ve gotta be able to play in space, which means you’ve gotta be a pretty good athlete, change direction. And when you do play pass defense, be able to make tackles in space. So I would think those are probably some of the critical factors that we always look for.”

Q: What are the benefits to having staff and interns?

Saban: “The biggest benefit is, A, I think is, for me, they make a tremendous contribution to the things that we’re doing. It’s good to have their energy, enthusiasm and ideas. But for me, it’s a great opportunity for me to evaluate what kind of people, how smart, what their knowledge is and what kind of relationship they have with other people on the staff, how they present themselves when we talk about things from a football standpoint. And it helps me to know people out there that I may want to have on our staff someday.

“A great example is Mike Locksley, which he was an intern, then I really liked him and made him receiver coach. Then after one more year, he was the offensive coordinator. Then after one more year, he’s the head coach at Maryland. I didn’t know Mike Locksley and I would have never hired him if it wasn’t for that experience. So it’s a combination of things. People think that they contribute to making big-time changes. I don’t think they do. I just think they help us analyze the things that we’re doing and make the things that we’re doing better.”

Q: What does a successful spring/spring game look like to you?

Saban: “I think spring ball is a time where you try to develop your team. Obviously, we’re gonna have several guys that aren’t gonna play in the spring game, which could have a huge impact on what kind of team we really have next year. But I think the biggest thing is to be able to see the experience and growth of the players who are involved in the spring game and to find out how many guys on our team can really play winning football and also to be able to evaluate where guys are in a game-like situation.

“So it doesn’t really matter. This is just a part of the process of what we’re going through to develop our team. It may contribute to changes we feel like we have to make, whether it’s schematically or personnel-wise. It may contribute to things that we wanna do in the summer to strengthen an individual or an individual position or give us an indication of where we may need to try to improve our personnel. So I think it’s all of the above. But it’s just the beginning, it’s not the end point of where you are. It’s where you are and what you have to do to get where you want to go.”

Q: How has the kicking/return game looked this spring?

Saban: “I think we're much improved in the kicking game. I think we're much more competitive. I like the energy and enthusiasm that we've shown in the kicking game. We've really tried to develop a lot of players in the kicking game. We haven't made any decisions about ... You know, JoJo did some punt returns. Burton can do punt return. Kool-Aid can do punt return. Jahmyr is a really good kick return guy. Aaron Anderson has been a really good returner.

“We've got a lot of guys that we're working but not really trying to make any final decisions right now as to who we think would be the best. We're just trying to develop each one of them.”

Q: With so many talented edge rushers, it is possible to get more on the field?

Saban: “Yeah, but they've got to fit a position. I think the depth helps. You can rotate players. We have a couple of packages where we put all those guys in the game. The goal is to get the best players on the field the best way we can, but they all have to fit a role in a game as well.”

Q: What are your thoughts on celebrating John Mitchell and Wilbur Jackson?

Saban: “Last year we went through this with our players and showed them the video of what those guys meant to creating a lot of opportunities for all minorities at this institution and many, many others. And some of the things that they had to go through. But look at the opportunities that both of those fine men — and I coached with John Mitchell with the Cleveland Browns so I know him really, really well. He's a great human being and a great man. So is Wilbur.

“These guys were people who did something that nobody else was really willing to do that created so many opportunities and changed lives of so many people and changed the mind-set of a lot of other people and was a big step in desegregating the South, and I think Coach Bryant should be commended for what he did to make that happen. And the leadership that he showed in trying to help those guys deal with the obstacles that they had to overcome, I'm sure, to be able to do that. And they did it in a first-class way and in fine fashion and God bless them and God love them, because what they did has created so many opportunities for so many people. I don't even think you can calibrate the importance of what they did.”